NWACC Foundation Doing Something Right

Bill Outhouse, executive vice president of the Northwest Arkansas Community College Foundation in Rogers, said 2000 has been his organization’s best fund-raising year ever.

The NWACC Foundation received about $2.5 million in donations through Dec. 21, raised an additional $20,000 at its second annual Golden Eagle Golf Tournament at Lost Springs Golf & Country Club in Rogers, and secured pledges totaling $580,000, to be received during the next four years.

The most recent donations include $126,775 contributed in early December by the CommunityCare Foundation Inc. of Rogers for the college’s fine arts and allied health departments and scholarships; a $30,000 endowed scholarship for business students, given by George Westmoreland, first vice president at Merrill Lynch in Rogers; $44,000 for foundation operations from the Walton Family Foundation Inc. of Bentonville; and $100,000 for various academic programs from Boyce and George Billingsley of Bella Vista Village.

“There is a broad base of support in Northwest Arkansas for the community college,” Outhouse said. “We’re deeply grateful for that. It’s great to know people value the college and what it does for the area.”

The only other year the foundation raised more than $1 million was in 1998, when Wal-Mart Stores Inc. investor Pauline Whitaker donated $1 million.

The college got its largest single donation ever this year — $2.1 million from philanthropists Pat and Willard Walker of Springdale. The Walkers were two of Wal-Mart’s original investors.

Pledges received in 2000 include $500,000 for the next four years from the Walton foundation.